Large, sturdy, and creative toys for use in playgrounds, parks, and similar recreational environments come in a multitude of shapes, sizes, and configurations. New and innovative playground toys and structures that safely entertain children and others are difficult to design. A play structure must be creative enough to capture a user's imagination (normally a child's imagination) and maintain his or her attention while still providing a high degree of safety. In addition, the play structure must withstand the rigors of the outdoors and constant use by children. Consequently, many playground structures are large, relatively stationary, wood and metal structures upon which children and others climb, swing and amuse themselves without serious threat of injury to themselves or damage to the structure. An example of such a play structure is a playground gym made of logs that includes fairly simple features such as a slides, tire ladders and swings. Playground equipment that involves more complex, interacting mechanical features, such as gears, wheels and carriages, are less common. Such play structures require a higher level of concerted human effort for operation. With the emphasis that the educational and health communities have recently placed on the need to promote physical fitness, communication and social interaction between persons at an early age, the demand for such innovative and complex playground equipment has increased. Accordingly, the present invention enables a person in a remote location to perform a physical function that inspires the users to communicate with each other more easily, to interact socially, and to exert themselves physically.
The present invention is a playground carriage that is designed to move people safely from one play area to another. A carriage loaded with people is propelled linearly along the length of a support pipe. The support pipe has a turning crank on at least one end that rotates the pipe as it is manually turned. The carriage is propelled along the rotating support pipe by a set of carriage wheels that are oriented at an angle to the face of the pipe so that they follow a helical or thread-like path along the pipe.
Devices for moving objects along a rotatable pipe that include an arrangement of wheels oriented at an angle to the surface of the pipe, such that rotating movement of the pipe is translated into longitudinal movement of the device, have already been disclosed in the prior art, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,203,511. However, in the prior art these devices have been used only in conjunction with motorized cranking mechanisms. Motorized or electromechanical cranking mechanisms are not practical in a playground or recreational environment from the standpoints of both safety and cost. On the other hand, manual cranking mechanisms as employed by the present invention are safer and more cost efficient. More importantly, the manual cranking mechanism of the present invention requires human effort for operation, as well as encouraging communication, social interaction and physical exertion among the users.
Finally, the devices disclosed in the prior art must be made inaccessible to persons in a playground or recreational environment in order to prevent injury. Such protective measures are not contemplated in the prior art. In the present invention, however, the carriage wheels are covered by a protective housing so that they are inaccessible to users.
In sum, the present invention provides a creative, exciting, yet safe, play structure for transporting people, wherein a person must manually turn a crank to propel a carriage carrying others from one play area to another. The present invention requires that the users cooperate in order to successfully propel themselves along the pipe. Thus, the present invention promotes communication, social interaction and physical exercise.